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Our guest speaker this week was Mike Houlahan, Associate Editor & Political Editor at the Otago Daily Times. His journalistic career started back in 1985 at the Evening Post in Wellington, which had a hyper-local focus. He provided a nostalgic throw-back to the long gone days of typewriters, ashtrays and the crescendo associated with edition deadlines. It was lamented how most newspapers today have lost the local focus of the Arts/Concerts/Music/Sports scene. During his career, there was a stint with the NZPA bureau in Wellington, before moving south to The Press in Christchurch. A return to Wellington beckoned when based there for the NZ Herald, before a return to The Press. Finally, a move was made to Dunedin for Fairfax as Editor of D-Scene. It was at this point that the changing nature of the landscape finally caught up with him, having managed to miss redeployment/restructure/closure throughout his career to date. This spurred a deviation in the career path through obtaining a Law Degree and contemplating a career in law, until a role was offered at the ODT which led him back to his natural calling. Mike has held a number of roles at the ODT including Health, Politics and is now an Associate Editor. He is also the gatekeeper for letters to the Editor. His parting thoughts were that despite the pressures of the newsroom, have the dedication of providing local news. It will never be 1985 again, but can still try to do what was done – local stories to support the Community.
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Rotary International Convention, Singapore, 25-29 May 2024.
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